It's A Promising Start
by monsieurdunbar
Summary: Based after Episode 2: Cortex of Code Lyoko Evolution. Slightly AUish. The group have told William to forget about Lyoko and to stay away, all but Aelita who has taken matters into her own hands. Rebelling against the group, she gives William a chance to prove himself to the others, only to eventually bring up more than friendship between them. W/A fluff and cute group friendship.
1. Chapter 1: The Promise

"You can't come back, William. We can't risk what you've done before to happen again!"

"But I didn't know-"

"It doesn't matter whether you knew or not. We told you and you didn't listen. How should we know you won't let yourself get captured again?"

"Alright, I made a mistake but-"

"We can't trust you! Who's to know you won't pull another stunt like that?!"

"Guys-"

"William, go back to Kadic. Forget about this. Forget about Lyoko, and the factory, and most of all, forget about X.A.N.A."

* * *

_Rrrrrrrrrrrrring-_

William slammed his palm against the alarm clock on his bed side table. Slowly dragging himself up, he eyed the clock. 7.00. He stood and glanced out the window, noticing it was dark out. It was winter after all, so the sky was still dark this season. Running a hand through his hair he reminded himself of the day before in the woods.

_We can't trust you!_

He knew it wasn't his fault. He didn't willingly run into X.A.N.A's arms to be forced into villainous doings. How could they be so stubborn towards this whole situation? He groaned as he grabbed his towel along with his toothbrush and toothpaste in his other hand. He felt that the day wasn't going to be any better than the previous, and now with no one to acquaint himself with, the "press" won't be off his tail either.

Walking into the boys' bathroom, he heard low voices muttering as he creaked the door open.

"It was the only way to get him off our backs, Odd."

Great. The legendary duo were here _and _were discussing him. William knew he was right, and if looking weak didn't get them to sympathize with him, he would give them the cold shoulder and hope they feel bad. Trudging into the bathroom with a scowl, he dropped his items and stared at his reflection in the mirror, ignoring the silence from the two boys to his right. He turned on the tap and let it run for a few moments before splashing his face and clearing his bleary eyes. The other two started gingerly brushing their teeth as William began topping his toothbrush with the minty paste. Silently the three boys brushed their teeth, unaware of other boys that began occupying the bathroom stalls and sinks. A long minute passed.

After the longest teeth brushing they had ever experienced ended, the three boys stood there: William watching his reflection and Odd watching Ulrich, who kept on averting his gaze whenever he caught himself staring at the boy they neglected the day before. Sure Ulrich and William have had a history of rivalry but William never thought twice of it. He felt it was just simple banter between two people who were after the same girl. He knew Yumi would always find them both her close friends and he knew that it was always going to be Ulrich she'd choose. He was only trying to help – in a strange and misunderstanding way, it seems.

However, the hard blow the group aimed at William the day before really caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting the people he called his closest friends to have yelled at him like that. Perhaps he was expecting it from Ulrich. He wasn't sure whether he deserved it from Yumi. He certainly thought he and Odd got along quite well, almost as well as he and Yumi did. But he was sure expecting at least Jeremié to understand; he knows what the Scyphozoa could do and how X.A.N.A is capable of making a human feel and think from what Aelita may have told him. Well, that was Aelita. It wouldn't matter if she pushed one of the gang off a bridge, he'd still forgive her. Come to think of it, as William recalled the day in the woods, Aelita didn't say a word. She understood what it was like under X.A.N.A's 'spell'. William was thankful for having at least one person on his side – or so he thought she was. She didn't speak up at the time so perhaps she wasn't. What did he care anyway; all of them have gone against him. He felt miserable. Perhaps it was his fault. If he hadn't have been so cocky on that first day, things might have been different. Fantastic, now he was blaming himself.

Giving his reflection a ghost of a headshake, he stiffened his shoulders and looked at his surroundings in the mirror. Everyone was gone. How long had he been standing there, staring at himself and looking like a fool? _Amazing, _he thought. He picked up his things and treaded back to his room.

* * *

"Could you pass me the screwdriver?"

Aelita searched the small toolbox sitting on Jeremié's bed until she caught sight of the tool that was asked for. She leaned over and handed it to him. _He's at it again, _she thought, watching the small metal scraps taking the shape of some sort of three dimensional triangle. Another 'Robot Ring Championship' event that Jeremié was so eager about. She remembers Odd telling her what happened in the robot basketball event during the time she was still stuck on Lyoko; how Jeremié's robot defeated Herve's in record time. Much to the crowd's dismay of the event being so short, it was still quite an exciting scene. Aelita was now able to see a match of her own, which is something she had been looking forward to almost as much as Jeremié.

A knock on the door and Aelita rushed to open it. Happy to see Odd and Ulrich, she motioned them inside, which they declined.

"Sorry Aelita," Ulrich muttered, turning to Jeremié. "We need to talk to you."

Jeremié frowned. He stood up and on his way out he placed his bot on the bed next to Aelita. Ulrich's and even Odd's sullen face stirred confusion in her, and she was reminded of the day before. _Oh._ She heard their murmured voices right outside the door so she crept up cautiously.

"He's really out of it, Einstein. Ulrich here didn't want to bother telling you but I'm worried."

"I didn't _not want to bother_, I just don't think it was necessary since we now have him off our backs, and now we can be set on destroying or... shutting down, whatever... get rid of X.A.N.A, you know..."

"I don't know what you two saw but I have to agree with Ulrich. We can't risk anything right now, especially since we're so close to defeating X.A.N.A."

"Well whatever you say, guys. It's just really uncomfortable seeing him like that. I mean, who stares at their reflection for, what, fifteen minutes?"

"Perhaps someone who is still connected to the troubling things they have done..."

"Jeremié?"

"We did what we did. It's fine. We can discuss this much later, preferably when we've all forgotten... I'll see you at the canteen later, alright? I need to continue with Bolto Mark I,"

"Whatever, Einstein. You always win anyway,"

Aelita heard Odd and Ulrich's footsteps melting away as the door handle begun shuffling. She sprinted back onto the bed and pretended to be inspecting the bot part Jeremié left next to her.

"What do you think?" he asked, watching her inspect it.

"Well I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be seeing," she laughed, a bit too forcefully. She hoped he didn't notice.

He smiled and took the bot part from her, sitting back on his seat and continuing his construction. Aelita turned on the spot to face Jeremié, bringing her legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees. She looked thoughtfully at the toolbox, constantly replaying the scene from the day before in the woods.

"Jeremié?"

"Yes Aelita?"

How could she form her question and not seem suspicious, she thought.

"Remember when the Scyphozoa caught me for the first time?" She mentally hit herself.

"Uh... yes. Why?"

"I, um... well I, uh..." she started looking around the room, hoping for some sort of guidance.

Seeing a previous robot that Jeremié made in the shape of a dog that resembled Kiwi, she averted her first question.

"What would you do if someone other than me got caught?"

"That's not possible. We all know that X.A.N.A's after the data that your Lyoko form and your memories contain."

Aelita was sure William didn't have any data that X.A.N.A wanted.

"Yes, I know but, figuratively speaking..." she watched him eagerly.

"Well, we'd use the data we have on them to bring them back. Like we did so many times with you Aelita," he turned in his seat and continued, "Why are you asking-"

"Would you be angry with them?"

Jeremié stared at her. All Aelita could do was cringe at herself. _Way to be subtle, _she thought.

"I-I'm sorry," she started getting up from the bed and walked towards the door.

It wasn't fair.

* * *

In the canteen William saw familiar faces left and right. This was an everyday sight for him so why he felt melancholy, he did not know. He grabbed his favorite weekend dish and naturally, he walked towards the gang who were engaged in a discussion of designs for Jeremié's robot. _Unnaturally_, he felt jealously stir within him as he saw them all together. He moved right past them, not turning his head and reached the empty table at the back of the canteen near the disposal room – which is why no one really sat there due to the smell. If he wasn't suspicious before, he was certainly suspicious now. Along with avoiding the group, he'd need to avoid the so-called "press".

Sullenly picking at the meatballs in his spaghetti, he reminded himself of a competition he and Odd had together one day – one better day. How many meatballs did it take until one of them gave up and toppled into their dorm beds for the rest of the day. It was a close call, but Odd won, as obvious as it was. William was just happy to challenge the boy and have something to laugh about in the future. However he just laughed morosely, continually picking the meatballs. His favorite dish at the school and he was picking it cold. Today was certainly not his day.

Trying to get involved in the hearty discussion, Aelita couldn't help but glance over Odd's shoulder opposite her and watch the back of William's head. She felt terrible for not speaking up. She understood him and how he felt and she should never had let the others shoot him down like they did. Even if she felt it was too late, she still had many chances and she wasn't going to let them go. Excusing herself for a glass of water, she strolled past William. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a worried look. She mouthed 'sorry' to him and continued to the water tank. William watched as she walked away and huffed. _Now they're trying to sympathize? It's a bit late for that, _he snapped in his head. He stood up from the table, threw all his food away in the garbage and stormed out of the canteen. On her way back, Aelita noticed William was not on his table anymore. She looked around and with no sign of him, she sighed and walked back to her table, in which she noticed the whole group staring at her straight-faced. Slowly sitting in her seat next to Yumi, Jeremié coughed and Odd sheepishly started the conversation yet again.

* * *

The group were all in Jeremié's dorm that Sunday, Yumi and Aelita on Jeremié's bed, and Odd and Ulrich watching over his shoulder as he worked on the robot model. Suddenly changing the topic, Yumi cautiously nudged Aelita's knee.

"Did you... did William say anything?"

Confused by the sudden approach, Aelita answered with a shake of her head. Both girls turned towards the floor until Aelita scoffed, raising a brow at Yumi.

"Why couldn't you have talked to him? He's honestly more likely to speak with you,"

"I don't think so, Aelita..." she muttered in reply, taken aback.

Odd and Ulrich quieted down their banter with Jeremié, a sign that they began listening. Aelita glanced at the boys who averted their gazes almost too quickly, then back to Yumi.

"There was no reason for you to say the things you said," irritably standing up, she started towards the door, before stopping herself.

She marched towards Jeremié's desk and shoved herself between the boys. Reaching towards one of the drawers, she pulled out a roll of cable wires and a small computer motherboard.

"A-Aelita?" Jeremié questioned awkwardly.

Slamming the drawer shut, Aelita strutted out of the dorm.

"What's gotten into her?"

Yumi stared at the closed door, "William..."

* * *

Once she reached her own dorm room, Aelita set the roll of cable, the small motherboard piece, and her phone out on her desk next to her laptop. She had an idea. A small but considerable idea. Reading the markings on the motherboard, she noted that this piece could fit her and Jeremié's particular models of laptop – which was exactly what she hoped for. Attaching the wire to certain spots on the motherboard and connecting the other half to a plug-in part, which she then inserted into her phone, she began typing in a code on her phone which would start a signal from a previous activated tower they had long since deactivated. She attached another piece of wire into a USB port, which she then inserted into her laptop. All the codes needed to turn on or turn off a signal for an activated tower now were laid out on the screen. With a triumphant huff, she inserted her own USB stick into another port and saved the file on it. Now if only she could get her hands on Jeremié's laptop, she could remove the signal. This was an incredibly risky idea, but isn't that what they do anyway? Risking their lives twenty-four-seven? Unplugging everything and putting her laptop away, she searched her phone's contact list for a certain "D".

Hearing his phone buzz, William curiously grabbed hold of the item wondering who could possibly be sending him a message. Seeing as it was from Aelita he groaned, dropping his arm with phone in hand onto his bed. _Why is she bothering?_ He stared at his ceiling. _I'm sure the others are putting her up to this. Poor Aelita._ He thought, curling his lips into a displeased smile. Raising his arm again he looked at the screen.

_1 new message_

_Aelita Schaeffer_

He opened the message with a sigh.

_Sorry about the others. Have a surprise for you. But only after helping me with something. Promise you'll come? In the boiler room in 15 minutes? I promise the others have nothing to do with this. – Aelita_

_Of course the others have something to do with this, _he thought immediately. A simple 'sorry' _for_ them is more proof for William that she was forced into the situation. A surprise? He bet it was the group gathered together for an all-around apology and sympathy party. He would never appreciate things being back to normal this quickly. Helping her with something? William felt miserable and she expects him to do chores for her? Promise he'll come? There was no way...

...and so William grabbed his jacket and left his dorm straight to the boiler room.

* * *

Fifteen minutes. He wasn't there. _Maybe he got caught up by Jim or someone else, _Aelita thought. She fiddled with the straps of her small rucksack which carried all the items she had previously worked with. She had a feeling William may have not arrived. She had too much faith in people she believed in, but perhaps he was too miserable. Perhaps it was too soon to ask anything from him. _What was I thinking..._ she started to leave the boiler room, reaching for the handle when she felt another force on the other side of it. Opening the door together, Aelita saw William in front of her.

"Well, what is this big surprise?" he stated sullenly.

Trying to find the right words – which she couldn't – she huffed in relief and dragged him inside.

"I need you to help me steal something,"

Bewildered, William gave her an astonished look.

"Well, Aelita, I never thought you'd be the kind-"

"Oh please, it's only borrowing. But _secret_ borrowing. I hope you understand,"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. What are you stealing?" curiosity overpowering him yet again.

"Jeremié's laptop,"

"Jeremié's laptop? Why?"

"I promise I'll explain everything, just promise you will help me sneak it out of his dorm,"

_How many times have I heard her say 'promise' today so far..._ he rolled his eyes, smirking ever so slightly.

"Whatever," shrugging his hands into his jacket pockets, he motioned towards the door to exit the boiler room.

Smiling in relief that she got somewhere with him, Aelita passed William and heard him follow put.

Pacing up the hallway where the boys' dorms were, the pair reached Jeremié's door. With their plan revised, it was time to work smoothly. William entered the boys' bathroom which was just a door down and opposite of Jeremié's dorm. Aelita knocked on the door and earning no reply, she entered the dorm. Luckily for her, she knew of Jeremié's habit to forget to lock the place. Walking in warily, she rushed for a different drawer and fished out his blue laptop. Successful in her capture, she turned to rush out the door when she saw William, panic covering his face.

"He's just up the hallway, Aelita. What do we do?"

Widening her eyes, Aelita looked around, once again looking for some sort of guidance in the room.

"T-try and... try and stall him!" she saw his fallen look, "Uh, actually, maybe not, um..."

Her eyes fell on the laptop in her arms and suddenly she figured it out. Passing it over to William, she pointed her finger down to tell him to stay put.

"I'll cough, and you'll take that as a chance to get out of here, alright? Don't forget to close the door,"

She left the dorm, luckily catching Jeremié waving at another student behind him. Pulling her best professional look, she stormed past him, causing him to turn completely around and call after her. Stopping, she turned around, and seeing as Jeremié had no view of his dorm, she coughed.

"Sorry. Did you want something, Jeremié?"

"Well, no, I just... are you alright?"

Aelita noticed William silently sneaking out of the dorm as she nodded quickly in response to Jeremié.

"Are you sure, I mean... you really were off. You weren't at the canteen so I came to look for you. You didn't open your dorm so I assumed you were somewhere else. I came for my laptop and, well, here you are. This, uh, isn't about William?"

Seeing William gone, she put her hands on Jeremié's shoulders.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. I _promise._" She stated nonchalantly.

Patting him on the shoulder she moved past him, left the hallway and bolted down the stairs to reach the boiler room where William would be waiting. Perhaps she was somewhat betraying the group by doing this, but she believed William was just as much a part of their group as the others were. She wondered why she cared so much for William in this situation. Supposedly she was just nice to everybody and wanted nothing more than for everyone to be happy. Supposedly she just understands X.A.N.A's power. However there was a difference at the current moment. She made a _promise._

"Alright, I've helped you commit your felony. Now why did you make me do that?"

Snickering silently at his ridiculous sarcasm, she motioned toward the back door of the boiler room and led him into the sewers.

"Hang on, Aelita. You're not taking me to... you know..."

Smile fading, Aelita turned to face him.

"Just this one time. I want to let you do something. To make up for everything. What the others did and said was horrible and they shouldn't have done that. What the others don't realize is that you are just as much a part of this group as Odd is or Yumi is or _I _am!"

William kept his cool posture, averting his gaze. He heard the sincerity in that statement and he wasn't sure how to counter that. That's how he felt he would survive this 'meeting'. He would try and counter anything Aelita said or if the others were here, he'd continue giving away his cold shoulder. But he couldn't do it anymore. Aelita walked towards him to get a better look at his face. Concerned, she crossed her arms and watched.

"I believe in you William. Whether the others do or don't is up to them,"

William felt his lips curl up. That was it; that's all it took. He was smiling and glad that there was someone like Aelita here.

"Now that '_big jellyfish thing' _is better off avoided, alright?" She laughed as William groaned and sunk his head.

* * *

"Did you find her?"

"Yeah I did. I thought she would be here by the time I got back," Jeremié pondered.

"Well, she isn't, so you thought wrong," Odd slurped on his juice.

"I couldn't find my laptop either. I'll go check in the library, but I'm sure I left it in my drawer..."

"Knowing you, someone stole it with what your door being unlocked and screaming '_open me'_ to anyone who passes," they laughed.

"_Ha ha, _hilarious, Ulrich. I'll see you guys later,"

* * *

William looked around the elevator in silence, while Aelita watched the elevator door in front of her.

"Well this sure is familiar," he mused.

Aelita glanced at him, "come on, William. Everything is in the past now, alright? Think of this as a second chance. I know you want to redeem yourself,"

He gave her a momentary look in return. How did she know so much about him when they've rarely been this close before the 'incident'.

"Before you wonder how I know so much, I don't," she laughed at his expression, "I'm just assuming. You _are_ quite readable,"

William rubbed the back of his neck, looking around sheepishly. Suddenly – thankfully – the elevator halted to a stop and opened. The supercomputer revealed in front of them. Aelita nudged him lightly with her elbow.

"Don't worry," she smiled softly.

Seeing as William was still fixated to the spot, she reached out for his hand but pulled away quickly. _That was weird. _She reached for his forearm instead and led him to the supercomputer.

"You remember the timer?" she asked, trying to small talk him into comfort.

He nodded. Still slightly concerned, Aelita started up the timer and led William to the trapdoor which its ladder led towards the scanners below. She stepped down and stopped hesitantly to look at him. Cocking her head to the side, she tightened her hands around the metal bars of the ladder.

"Don't worry, William,"

Shaking his head then nodding, he snapped back to reality and began climbing down after Aelita. Perhaps... perhaps it was the feeling of himself slipping back into X.A.N.A's clutch that prevented him from feeling relaxed. But perhaps... he shouldn't have been afraid. Didn't Aelita make that _promise?_

* * *

"You know, you did it pretty well for your first time back after a long time!" Aelita called over, hovering over the electrical turquoise walls.

Holding onto his large sword, William hovered alongside Aelita and scoffed, "forget about me, what kind of stunt were _you _pulling?!"

Aelita chuckled, "Give me a break, I haven't been on Lyoko in a long while either, I'm allowed to pull stunts like that."

Hearing no response, she glanced at William looking glum.

"...and you are too," she smiled, hovering closer to him.

The pair lowered themselves and finally landed as they reached the large metallic entrance.

"Besides, William, if it weren't for you I'd be stuck over there for good," Aelita stated, pointing to said door.

William shrugged pathetically, smirking a little. Getting rid of his sword with a puff of smoke, he walked on with Aelita towards the giant entrance. Once in front of there, Aelita turned to William.

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"Trying to be as ready as I was the first day,"

She raised her eyebrow.

"Perhaps your gear isn't a good influence on you, what with the smoke and-"

As soon as her discussion about X.A.N.A started, it soon ended as a laser shot right past them, almost too close to have missed. The two jumped away from each other and glanced behind only to notice a pair of hornets zooming their way towards them, constantly shooting the harmful rays. Perhaps the last thing X.A.N.A wanted was its enemy and its own ex-soldier to be discussing what a horrible virus it is. Jumping into his super smoke, William rippled right behind the two hornets, and jumping up from the dark cloud, he struck a hornet right through its middle, leaving it to explode. One left to go, Aelita struck her palm over her wristlet and flew high enough to leave the last hornet in a struggle to raise its laser. Before it could charge its next shot, Aelita flung her energy field, engulfing the hornet in a glowing pink layer before it also exploded. Landing back in front of the large entrance, Aelita and William started laughing.

"Alright X.A.N.A, alright," she crinkled her eyes as she reached a metal plate which stood out from the rest of the wall.

Placing her right hand on the plate, a luminous glow surrounded her palm and the ground of the Cortex began shaking as the entrance rotated itself open. Aelita strolled inside with William right behind her.

* * *

"Where's Aelita?" Yumi asked worriedly as she approached Ulrich, Odd and Jeremié outside the soda machine – their usual hang-out spot.

"She never came to Science. She just disappeared!" Odd yelled.

Yumi scrunched her nose, looking to the ground in thought.

"Jer, you think she could be at the Hermitage?"

Jeremié pressed his thumb against his bottom lip, deep in thought. It could be possible, especially after their last Lyoko journey at the Cortex. Aelita opened data which revealed images she had never seen before but strongly recognized. To top it off, a picture of her father, Franz Hopper, was displayed in the centre.

"Could be... but I don't know if _that's _what's bugging her-"

"William," Yumi cut him off, her brows frowning.

"Yumi?" the boys watched her.

"He... he wasn't in Math this morning either,"

They all looked at each other and she continued.

"I mean, Aelita has been getting worked up about _that day_ and remember what happened at the canteen?"

Eyes widening, fists curling, the gang nodded at each other and split up into pairs to search the school.

* * *

Turning on the data fragments yet again, Aelita watched the images revealing in front of her more closely. Staying near the entrance but still inside, William watched the images too. Aelita worked through each image and tried sending them to the supercomputer at the factory, however not all made it. Deciding to implant the rest into her own source codes, she finished what she originally came to do in a more business-like manner, and luckily, before X.A.N.A decided to close the door on her again. They left the Cortex in silence.

"So that was your dad?" William tried cautiously.

"Yes. I'm trying to come to terms with him gone but... I just have this feeling that he's 'not as gone' as we think he is... I don't know,"

"I'm sure you'll get your answers soon enough," William shuffled, "I think... uh, sorry."

Aelita smiled at him and thanked him. With the Cortex silent and nothing left for the pair to do, they decided to head back towards the Skid. William had the pleasure in riding it for the first time, and found that it was much more fun riding it that driving a Manta. Manta's were usually quite stubborn, considering their source codes are usually jumbled up. The core of Lyoko would reach out for any source codes near it and rearrange them, just to fulfil its own data. Which is why the Mantas are quite unlucky to have been placed there.

"Aelita?" William stopped her.

She turned around just before she brought up her wings.

"I know you find the smoke uncomfortable but... do you think I could..."

"It does seem we could reach the Skid faster that way so... of course. I know you're you and not X.A.N.A-fied you. Don't worry about it, I'll try to get used to it," she smiled kind of weakly at him.

Before she could bring out her wings, he grabbed her hand and suddenly they were both rushed into a larger cloud of smoke. Bringing them both back up to the surface, they stared at each other with wide and confused eyes.

"Did that..."

"... really just happen," she finished his sentence.

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean to...-"

"N-no, it's... if you want,"

They stuttered and stuttered until they laughed, still bewildered at the smoky rush they experienced.

* * *

"Aelita and William, who'd-a thought it?"

"Odd!" Jeremie exclaimed, trying to focus on which direction to take to reach the Hermitage.

Odd had spent the last twenty minutes thinking aloud of certain situations in which the pair they were searching for were romanticizing, much to Jeremié's dismay.

"It's like Romeo and Juliet all over again!"

Jeremié glared at him.

"What?! Montague versus Capulet; us guys versus X.A.N.A. That's pretty twisted if you tell me!"

"Odd, please, I'm trying to think here. Keep it up and we'll get lost,"

"Okay, okay. We all know you're just jealous of the idea of those guys being together," he pat him on the back, "It's alright, lover boy,"

Groaning, Jeremié shrugged Odd's hand off and marched onward.

"If we reach the Hermitage and they're not there, well, I hope you lose interest in Zombie Alive because it will _mysteriously _get lost,"

"No! Don't you dare! I paid good money for that game!"

Odd was silent for the rest of the journey.

* * *

"I shouldn't have said what I did..." Yumi muttered while she and Ulrich were scouting the school.

Ulrich watched her, thinking about what he himself had said that day.

"It's not your fault-"

"It wasn't his fault either!" she snapped.

Thinking quick to not seem moronic in front of her, Ulrich wormed his hands into his pockets.

"Y-yeah, because it was X.A.N.A's fault, so if you think about it we... we did a good thing?" he didn't sound convinced himself.

Yumi sighed.

"I'm kind of frightened, Ulrich. How can we confront him after all we said?"

"I guess Aelita got the easy way out, huh?" he tried lightening the mood, only gaining a pained look from Yumi and more awkward silence. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be this mad, I just... we should've done something. But not _that._"

Unsure of what to do, he placed a hand on the back of her shoulder and they nodded at each other. They continued to scout the school.

* * *

Emerging from a cloud of smoke, Aelita and William continued to laugh wholeheartedly. They both arrived at the Skid using William's super smoke and it was a feeling very new to Aelita.

"That was certainly something. I don't think I should feel nervous anymore," she grinned at William, earning one in return.

Aelita teleported them into the Skid and they set off back into the digital sea. She wanted to see some of the photographs before they returned. William didn't get to see much of the digital sea under X.A.N.A's hold so he enjoyed the ride. Aelita, almost reluctantly, decided to tell him about how the others would always fight about who got to drive the Skid. She promised William she'd teach him one day.

Once the Skid was parked, the pair ran towards the start of the Carthage sector and waited for the transporting ball which would take them towards the desert sector. But as they waited, that's when they felt the supercomputer pick up something. An activated tower. In fact, the only tower currently in the desert sector. Aware that Jeremié still had a notifying signal on his phone, Aelita panicked.

"We need to deactivate that tower before the others come here. I forgot to change the data in Jeremié's phone,"

"Wait, you mean you did all this to secretly smuggle me onto Lyoko?"

"I'm really sorry, William. I wanted to give you a chance!"

William knew he should've felt betrayed at the moment however something in him made him feel otherwise. He liked the rebellious moment the pair had stealing Jeremié's laptop. He liked how Aelita promised him. He liked how she trusts him. William hadn't felt rebellious in a long while, a trait that used to be part of his original nature. He should've have felt angry that Aelita could have gotten many people in trouble and herself into more trouble within the group. He should've been angry that she did all that for him. But that was it: it was all for him. It had been a day or two? He didn't even remember. He was miserable for what he felt was weeks, and Aelita changed that with a single text.

Rising from his thoughts, he noticed his surroundings. He was in the desert sector and Aelita was in front of him, urging him to hurry. And so he did. Taking her hand and slipping into the large trail of smoke, they swiftly made their way across the sector towards the activated tower.

* * *

Hearing his phone beeping manically, Jeremié haltered right as he and Odd arrived at the Hermitage.

"A X.A.N.A attack? Now?!"

"Well, no time to waste!" Odd almost grinned in relief, his game being saved from the clutches of Jeremié, "people are in danger, yatta yatta...!"

Raising an eyebrow, Jeremié glanced towards the old building, hesitated, and rushed into it.

"H-hey, Jeremié! What are you doing?!" he rushed in after him.

Jeremié rushed from room to room, trying to find any living signs of the pink-haired girl. Odd was right behind him, strangely out of breath.

"Calm down, Einstein. You could use some of that speed in gym class!"

Ignoring him, Jeremié climbed the stairs two at a time and checked the rooms there. Odd stayed downstairs, ready to bolt towards the factory once Jeremié finds the place empty. However a shuffling sound from the room opposite to Odd got him thinking, _seems he missed out a room._ He entered the room ready to greet Aelita, only to find the place empty. All but a gramophone with a moving record. Curious, Odd moved closer to the gramophone and reached out. _Zap_. Odd yelped as he got electrocuted, his cry causing Jeremié to rush back downstairs. He saw Odd ducking behind a couch and the gramophone spinning the record faster than normal.

"Odd...?-"

"Get down!"

Suddenly the gramophone spit out the record and it zoomed right at Jeremié. However, he was lucky enough to have ducked before it could graze him.

"I don't know about you Einstein but I think we better head to the factory,"

"Right," Jeremié nodded as he fished out his phone and found Ulrich's number from his contact list.

* * *

"We searched the whole school. They're not here," Yumi sighed.

Ulrich nodded, and his phone rang.

"Must be Jeremié. I hope they found them,"

He answered the call, "yeah?"

"It's Jeremié! Listen-"

He got cut off by a loud smash of a record against a wall.

"Jeremié, you and Odd okay? What's going on?"

"X.A.N.A! Head to the factory as soon as possible!"

With that, the call ended. Ulrich repeated Jeremié's words to Yumi and they set off to the manhole in the woods.

* * *

Emerging from the smoke yet again, this time in front of the activated tower, William and Aelita sighed in relief that they were able to reach their destination with no monsters to hold them back. However their relief did not last long as a pair of Krabbes made their way towards them. William and Aelita, sword and energy field in hand, charged at the Krabbes. A slice through the middle and a surge of energy, the two Krabbes were gone almost straight away. However that was not enough. Another pair came, and after being taken care of, more pairs came. The Krabbes were easy enough to take care of, but they kept on coming. And that is when it happened. As if the past had replayed once more, the Scyphozoa had emerged from the dusty yellow rocks next to the tower and charged at the pair. The Krabbes were just a distraction from X.A.N.A's nasty plan: to bring the pair down, to recover their memories of what it was like to be under his spell. William was glued to the spot and dropped his sword. It all flooded back to him. Aelita heard the sword and stared in shock. She ran to him and shook him out of his fear, pulling him by his wrist as far away from the jellyfish-like monster.

"William! This is it! Show me, William. Show me that my believing in you was not a waste of time!"

And so he roared to life and outstretched his arm to return his sword to his grasp. Glancing at the Scyphozoa which was increasing in speed, he ran the other way with Aelita and continued to destroy the Krabbes. Running the other way wasn't a good idea either as they were distancing themselves from the activated tower. The gang wouldn't be long by now. Their route was blocked by about a dozen Krabbes now and they had no chance. They were either to face the Scyphozoa or face devirtualization. William by no means wanted to get caught again. He imagined the thought of Aelita being disappointed in him, especially after all she's done. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if that happened. However he had to take a risk. _Isn't that what they do anyway? Risking their lives twenty-four-seven? _

He grabbed Aelita's hand and pulled them both down into smoke. He snaked them between dusty rocks until they were behind the tower. Overwhelmed by William's action, she was glad that the tower was free from monsters behind. The pair started for the tower when Aelita felt a presence behind them. Turning around she saw thin tentacles snaking their way sneakily around William's torso. They were about to snatch him, however Aelita pushed him to the ground, causing the Scyphozoa to snatch Aelita's torso instead. Happy with either one, the Scyphozoa began implanting the virus into Aelita's virtual codes- that is, until William lets it do so. Raising the giant sword with both hands, he slashed every single tentacle holding Aelita, causing the giant monster to squeal in pain and float far away from William. With any to no virus codes implanted in Aelita, she awoke almost immediately. She looked at him triumphantly, happy that that was it. William had redeemed himself completely and now that the data was stored on the supercomputer, she hoped it'd be good for the gang to look over. Together they ran into the tower and William waited at the bottom as Aelita flew upwards to deactivate it.

* * *

"What was it?" Ulrich asked once they all arrived at the elevator.

"A record-spitting gramophone, what else would it be?!" Odd yelled, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Raising an eyebrow, Ulrich looked towards Jeremié.

"As Odd said, a record-spitting gramophone,"

Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other, brows furrowing. The elevator doors opened and Yumi, Ulrich and Odd exited into the scanner room. Jeremié continued upwards- and before the three could protest to him about how two scanners were already in use, he was already gone.

Meanwhile, above the scanner room, Jeremié rushed to the supercomputer and saw, well, he saw many things. More things than he expected to see. He found his blue laptop next to Aelita's burgundy one, and a lot of cables connecting those laptops to the supercomputer. He saw that the supercomputer was in fact in use, and that a certain two people were in Lyoko. But he also saw that the activated tower was no longer activated. He spoke through the microphone towards the rest of the gang in the scanner room, asking them to come up. Once they did, they saw it all too.

"Aelita?" he spoke into the microphone to Lyoko, "...William?"

William and Aelita lifted their heads from the holographic screen in which they were examining the photographs Aelita took with her. They knew they should have devirtualized each other as soon as they deactivated the tower. Unsure of what to do, Aelita closed the screen and watched William's expression, hoping he could give any sign of an idea. With no ideas, she decided they couldn't run from it, and so:

"Yes Jeremié?"

"Aeli-"

"Aelita! What are you doing?! You have us terrified as heck and you run off with William, what were you thinking?!" Odd yelled into the microphone, causing Jeremié to almost slip off his chair.

Wincing at how loud he was being, Aelita answered with an apology as William gave her an offended look – "What does he mean '_what were you thinking'?!" - _and that she'd explain everything later. She asked for them to be devirtualized and so they were. After a moment, William and Aelita entered the lab. They all took turns to stare at each other awkwardly.

"We... deactivated the tower for you," is all Aelita could say.

She felt pathetic in front of their unbearable silence. William shuffled closer to her and nudged her elbow with his own. Giving each other an understanding look, she regained the courage to tell the others exactly what was on her mind and why she did everything. After describing everything she did and why, it left the gang in silence. They didn't, well, _couldn't_ say a word. Regaining her courage reminded her of why she did all this, and seeing the gang still uncooperative, she huffed.

"I left a code on the supercomputer. I think you should check it out," she aimed her straight look at Jeremié.

With the 'message' left behind, she looked to William and he responded with a nod. They entered the elevator to leave the factory together, leaving the others in a puzzle. Once they left, the gang took a moment to recollect themselves and Jeremié reached towards the supercomputer's keyboard. Typing in the code Aelita left behind, he read through the data saved from Aelita and William's Lyoko activity. He read aloud to the others about X.A.N.A's Krabbe diversion and the Scyphozoa.

"Scyphozoa?" Yumi questioned, "I thought X.A.N.A lost most of its data after we shut down the supercomputer,"

"Maybe... maybe when Aelita was virtualized that first time after turning on the supercomputer, the codes it planted in all of you, including her, were copied back into its system,"

"So now that we've all been in Lyoko, X.A.N.A's been able to _re-grow_ whether we had been hugged by a spectre or not?" Ulrich cut in.

"It appears so... the spectres just speed the process up, I suppose,"

"X.A.N.A's two favourites on Lyoko, his monsters must have been crazy,"

"Odd!" Yumi hissed after seeing Jeremié's sullen face.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Jeremié turned away from the group and watched the data on the screen. He read how they managed to fish out all of the photographs from the Cortex. He read about them driving the Skid. Transporting from Carthage to the Cortex and back, then to the desert sector. Travelling around so much on Lyoko is one thing that wears the warriors down the most. That's another reason why Jeremié programmed the vehicles, but Aelita and William didn't seem to use any other than the Skid. Well, William had his supersmoke and Aelita had her wings. Jeremié listened to the other three bickering behind him about the pair.

"You know, Aelita's right. Heck, I said the same thing too! We were way too harsh and I'm worried,"

"Hey, hey, Odd, don't even go there. You're the one who left the biggest blow. _'We can't trust you'_? Nice one, Odd,"

"Well I thought we were just sticking to the plan, Ulrich. I was just speeding up the process,"

"There was no plan, Odd," Jeremié piped in.

They all looked at him.

"All I said was it would be better if we had as little people know about Lyoko, about X.A.N.A, about the factory. Aelita is right, William is as much a part of this group as any of us are. None of what he did before was his fault, and we were just too stubborn to realize that,"

They looked at each other guiltily, and as Jeremié turned away from them again, they took it as a sign that he needed to recollect everything. They left the laboratory.

"You guys should know he only said most of that stuff so he can get on Aelita's good side again," Odd stated in the elevator.

The look Ulrich and Yumi gave him spoke volumes of his need to _stop talking._ He watched the floor of the elevator for the rest of the way up.

* * *

"Sorry about all that..."

"Don't be sorry, Aelita. I had fun today. In fact the most fun I've had in a long while. Yeah some of it wasn't _as _fun," he began muttering with a smirk, "what with _the big jellyfish thing making an appearance._"

Aelita laughed with him as they made their way down the bridge.

"So do you want to go through the sewers or... maybe..." she began.

"Actually..." he placed his left arm around her shoulders and his right arm holding her upper arm, "...I've got an idea," he began tugging her faster down the bridge as they entered the barely busy streets of the small town.


	2. Epilogue

Suddenly they became friends. _Really good friends._ Let's just say Odd had a good idea about them. William and Aelita became weekly regulars at the small coffee shop right next to the school, the place William dragged her to that day. Odd decided to get acquainted more with them too, so they let him join sometimes – other times they just wanted to go on their own. The pair of them (or sometimes with Odd) would talk about their recent Lyoko missions or catch up on homework, or just to talk about simple nothings.

After a few jealous jousts and sassy comments, a girl called Laura joined their gang. She never joined Lyoko, she just helped out with the technical stuff. Most of the time she just stayed with Jeremié at Kadic. They all met her through William – unintentionally. She followed him to the factory one time and it all changed from then.

William still rivalled with Ulrich over Yumi and everyone found it amazing how Ulrich could still get so roused up. Yumi would occasionally ask William to '_calm it down a bit_' with a playful punch to the arm.

Odd and William continued their meatball eating competitions after he joined the table again. Jeremié won the 'Robot Ring Championship', no surprise there, much to Herve's dismay.

The staff at the coffee shop William and Aelita always attended recognized them after a few weeks, their orders already there at their booth at precise times. One time it was being remodelled. After about a month, there was a small stage placed there. Aelita offered to play some of her beats as an opener, much to the manager's opposition – he wanted classy and rock, you see. But the beats were a success and attracted many folk near the area. More and more musicians offered to play gigs and soon the place was first on the attractions list for many townspeople.

Back at Kadic, Valentine's day came and went yet again, this year being more mature for the gang to say the least. Ulrich and Yumi vowed to each other to never believe a thing Sissi says until they both confront her about any sort of rumours. Aelita decided to give cards and chocolates to all her friends, stirring quite a bit of misunderstanding for Jeremié to say the least. Odd wanted to join William and Aelita in their usual coffee get-out, however the pair had something else planned.

And so by the time it was Summer, Jeremié got over Aelita. He finally knew that she needed a different 'rush'. Sure there can only be one 'Mrs. Einstein' and that was still Aelita – it was a title she wanted to hold on to for a long time.

Ulrich and William got over their rivalry and as soon as William explained himself, it left the whole group in fits of laughter for a very long time. The whole group except for Ulrich. After that he finally confessed to Yumi, raising a bunch of _"yes"_s and _"finally_"'s from not only the group but many other students on campus.

One thing that didn't change from before was the 'press'. William never managed to escape from Milly and Tamiya, however for a whole different reason. They were constantly after his and Aelita's tails once the rumour of the pair was silently spread. It didn't matter much to them anyway.

Their school life had started going upwards ever since Jeremié, Laura and Aelita had found hints and code work on getting rid of X.A.N.A once and for all. They could all relax every now and then whenever an attack was avoided. They almost had every code to counter any of X.A.N.A's attacks so whether it was being completely infected with its virus from the Scyphozoa or being thrown into the digital sea (and engulfed by it), they could still be materialized back to earth. X.A.N.A was getting tired. The more tired the virus got, the more secrets were revealed.

However, that's another year, another saga. For now the gang had their minds set. They were sorted out, and the as soon as the long tension was over, a celebratory coffee at the local shop was in order. Aelita would perform, everyone would cheer and dance and drink, and all would be well. That is until...

* * *

_Rrrrrrrrrrrrring-_

William slowly dragged himself up and forced his eyes open as much as he could. Eyeing the clock he saw that it was seven in the morning as usual. He checked his phone as his body was slowly waking up.

_4 new messages_

He read them one after the other.

_(6.00) I've got new features on Lyoko for all of you guys to try out. Laura came up with the codes for them. You'll like them a lot! Meet at the factory after last period. – Jeremié Belpois_

_(1.23) willy boy you're probably asleep but listen up have you played the demo of zombie alive 2? DANG! controller no2 is all yours since ulrich prefers data simulators anyway haha ;D – Odd Della Robbia_

_(23.36) Odd's gonna be playing his stupid game all night long and i might as well talk to someone. i don't want to wake Yumi and i still don't like you for your troll move so you better reply to this and save me. – Ulrich Stern_

_(6.58) Good morning! c: - Aelita Schaeffer_

Smiling widely to himself, he was glad things turned out the way they did. It took a long while but it was worth the wait. These stubborn friends of his were just that, his best friends. He got out of bed and grabbed a towel along with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Leaving his room, he met Ulrich along the way, a grumpy look on his face.

"I'm guessing Odd-zombie isn't so _alive_, huh?" William snickered.

Ulrich imitated him with a higher pitched voice while rubbing his tired eyes. William laughed at him and they both entered the boys' bathroom.

"I'm not waking that idiot up. I hope he has terrible attendance in class and gets all the detentions this school has to offer. I'd even be willing to move in with _you,_" Ulrich motioned to William who couldn't stop grinning.

After washing up and getting dressed, Jeremié, Ulrich and William set off for the vending machines where they would meet up with the girls if they hadn't caught them on the way there.

"No Odd today?" Yumi smirked as she saw them coming.

"Nope, and don't expect to see him tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or any day after that," Ulrich mused.

They all laughed. Same old Odd, same old day. Everything was as it was, of course, with the addition of William and Laura too. As they all engrossed themselves into a conversation about Odd or last night's homework, William shuffled by Yumi and snuck himself behind Aelita. He leaned close to her ear and muttered,

"Good morning to you too,"

She blushed at the unexpected vibration from his voice and turned her head to face him. She laughed and playfully slapped him on the cheek twice.

* * *

_Arf! Arf arf!_

"Nn... Kiwi..."

_Arf arf arf! Grrrrrr... arf!_

"Kiwi... stop... zombies... alert..."

_Arf! Ar- Robbia! Della Robbia! Wake up!_

"Go'way Kiwi... dogs can't... talk..."

Odd bolted his eyes open as soon as he felt himself being shaken viciously and the sight of Jim before him yelling.

"Do I look like a dog to you Della Robbia? Get up, get dressed, and get to class before you get yourself into more trouble than what you're already in! Also since you're so keen on remembering dates for important video game releases why don't you write down another important date: this afternoon after last period, gym, three hours and twenty seven minutes of detention. That's exactly how much class time you've missed today! Up, up, up!"

Odd took a moment to look around his room, barely hearing Jim, glancing at the clock, then his game, and he groaned at the ceiling.

_Thanks a lot, Ulrich._


End file.
